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Friday, June 9, 2017

California Raisins | Sweet Raya Dishes

California Raisins Galore!

Just before the fasting season, the Raisin Administrative Committee has decided to join in the festive fun to introduce an array of nutritious and delicious recipes using California Raisins. And in conjunction to that, we also had a challenge among bloggers to test out our creativity when preparing dishes featuring raisins. Just before the challenge kicked off, we had Chef Rohani Jelani sharing her inspiring dishes and desserts to prepare in conjunction with the Raya season.

Chef Rohani Jelani sharing her dishes

As spicy as that looks, trust me, it taste AMAZING!

Raising are great to munch or snack on, and can be used for dishes, cakes, pastries to be consumed by many consumers from all around the world. And with raisins making an impact to chefs and home cooks worldwide, it's also becoming more popular as consumers are becoming more adventurous in their culinary experimentations (which includes me and my team who are up for the raisin cook-off challenge).

Look at all the raisins!

Raisins are more than just an appetizing delight, as they are a great source of nutrition which is suitable to incorporate into meals amidst rising health issues due to unhealthy diets. Did you know that raisins can reduce coronary heart diseases? I think we all know that good nutrition is the best approach for preventing diseases and to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Thus, we the Soul Sistars (team name for bloggers challenge) decided to create a dish that revolves around the idea of providing the best nutrients as the highlight of our dish. And psst, my blogger team mates were Bowie, Autie Lilly, Miriam and myself. Teehee.

Mandatory photo with the raisin mascot

Just before the competition started, I admit that we were really nervous as we see other blogger friends stepping up their game to only prepare the finest among them all and that really got our heart pumping. And if you're wondering, the Soul Sistars decided to prepare a combo raisin dished named East Meets West Raisin Combo. The combo consist of an apple blueberry raisin crumble and fried cauliflower with raisins, and guess what? It's yummy and vegetarian-friendly! Hehe. Below would be the dishes that we prepared.

Apple Blueberry Raisin crumble

Fried Cauliflower with Raisins

We honestly had tons of fun preparing our dishes, and it's such a blessing to find out that our team won the challenge! Despite this being our first time baking & cooking together, I can safely say that you can never go wrong with raisins being added to your dish.. Hehe. The most valuable comment we received from the judges was that they admired the idea that we reduced on the amount of sugar as we believe that the raisins were already naturally sweet. Healthy and tasty is the way to go gais! Who says healthy food is tasteless? hehe

And guess what?! Our team brought back the grand prize!

Overall, everyone did an amazing job and i look forward to more raisin creations!

So if you're looking for ideas for this coming Raya festive season, why not consider stepping up the notch by including raisins into your dish? It's healthier and it has tons of good nutrition that you can share out to your family and friends. To start a healthy lifestyle diet always starts with someone, and maybe you hold the key to telling the world that being healthy isn't all that bad. Raisins through small must not be underestimated for their health benefits and keep in mind that it is also a sugar replacement for many recipes in cooking and baking. xx

PS: As much as i wanted to use my own images, my SD card got damaged, thus Auntie Lillie from Followmetoeatla was nice enough to allow me to use her photos. Do check her page out for more foodie write ups! But i warn you that it may cause you to feel hungry. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!